
Within the story of Ten Days in a Mad-House, news reporter Nellie Bly goes undercover in order to truly expose the inadequate treatment towards the stigma of mental illness in women. Throughout this personal encounter of the horrific ten days spent, one can gain an insight on what it was really like to be institutionalized without proper cause. It is especially important to use her experience as a learning tool about women’s health and as a way to inform one on how to correctly assess and treat it. Ten days in a Mad-House is being used to help exemplify or show awareness to the frivolous diagnosis of mental illness towards women.

Upon Bly’s entrance into the asylum, she sought to experience how women’s mental illness was assessed and treated. At the time that this occurred, in 1887, the development of knowledge towards women’s mental health was still very inaccurate. According to Laura Briggs, women were often accused of being hysterical as a way to help dismiss their outcries to be more present in society (246). For many years prior to Bly’s experience women did not have the same amount of opportunities as men, therefore not allowing them to obtain a voice in the public arena. As time progressed so did the role of women in the public. An example of this would be Bly’s mental examination following her arrival to the asylum, which showed how inadequately a differentiation of sanity from insanity was diagnosed. It is also important to note another aspect of Briggs’ findings towards women’s mental health, what would be characterized as a symptom. Fertility and reproductive issues as well as nervousness are only few of the many different reasons as to why a woman would be considered hysterical (Briggs 246). Along with other symptoms such as menstrual-related anger, postpartum depression, pregnancy-related sadness overall, chronic fatigue, anxiety, as well as disobedience did there seem to be a reason to diagnose a women with a mental illness during the victorian times (Dual Diagnosis). When considering this information from Briggs this can also be exemplified in the diagnosis of Nellie Bly and some of the other women she was institutionalized improperly with, along with the tests that were being used to judge their sanity. To build upon the statements of Briggs, psychiatric patients were often locked up in places similar to jail cells, denied of communication with the outside world, and were often mistreated. According to Dorothea Dix, a woman who conducted a study on the treatment of patients:

I admit that public peace and security are seriously endangered by the non-restraint of the maniacal insane. I consider it in the highest degree improper that they should be allowed to range the towns and country without care or guidance; but this does not justify the public in any state or community, under any circumstances or conditions, in committing the insane to prisons. (Dual Diagnosis)

Within this quote and study conducted by Dix, along with the work of Nellie Bly, can the true cruelty behind the treatment towards the mentally ill be truly evident. As previously stated from Briggs, hysteria especially during this time, was a word used to cope with the idea of an increased need for women in the public eye. With the assumption that a woman were showing signs of anything deriving from “typical”, consequently they would be accused of hysteria. This is very important because while the word “hysteria” was thrown around loosely during the Victorian times, it was still residing while Nellie Bly went inside of Blackwell's Island Lunatic Asylum and still does reside to this day. 

Mental illnesses have been instilled in the role of women within literature for many years, the greatest example and most questionable case would be that of Bertha Mason. In Jane Eyre written by Charlotte Bronte, the former wife of the head of household is locked away and characterized to be mad. It is in this representation of the insane woman that many questions arise that were similar to those of Bly’s experience. In this article that Elizabeth Donaldson argues the difference between impairment and disability, discussing that in order to address both is very important in the diagnosis of a mental illness (14). Within these two topics Donaldson also focuses on the idea that while everyone suffers from impairments and extreme cases of disabilities, it is also when the subject is isolated with only those impairments to focus on which forces them to become disabilities. This could be used to help explain Bly’s state of mind and the other women that she befriended, mainly because of her statement that with the conditions of both the patients and institution was enough to make anyone feel insane. Similarly, Bertha Mason’s story as to how or why she was locked in the tower is not told from her standpoint in Jane Eyre, however from the man of the household. This is important to note because the publication of Jane Eyre was around forty years prior to Ten Days in a Mad-House, meaning that the stigma towards women’s health was even more prominent. Furthermore concluding that with the story being told from the man’s point of view could prove how the accusation of a mental disability among Bertha Mason were wrong. The article written by Donaldson is very important to consider, especially when evaluating the image of women in literature and how that can be perceived within reality. 

When evaluating Bly’s purpose for this brave stunt, especially during this time, one must look at her as a reporter and where the inspiration came from, her personal life. At a very young age Elizabeth Jane Cochran’s, known by her pen name Nellie Bly, father died leaving behind financial burdens on Bly’s mother, who at the time had no legal authority to handle the finances of her husband especially with being a woman (Harley 280). This along with the treatment she, her mother, and her many siblings received from her new stepfather is what help to fuel her desire for equality and women’s rights. According to American Experience, Bly stumbled across a news article discussing that the role of women belonged in the domestic life, which is something that she knew was not true or beneficial fro a family. After reading the article she wrote the paper company and they then gave her the pen name Nellie Bly, which she would then use to write numerous pieces on the perspectives of the working woman (American Experience). It was at the time that she stepped in the office of New York World, that the story of her Ten days in the Mad-House arose. This brave form of reporting ignited many other undercover investigating stories that she soon would refer to as “stunt-reporting” (American Experience). As seen throughout her life as a child she was exposed to the inequalities that women had to endure and saw how few rights women were actually granted. From her father dying resulting in her to take on an active role at an early age, to seeking work in order to help her mother with finances, she was exposed to this evil truth at an early age. This an important aspect to consider when evaluating the purpose for faking insanity and purposely being admitted into an insane asylum, this was done because of the injustice towards women. It is also significant to note the time period as to which this was occurring, the same time that society’s understanding of women’s mental health was also not up to par with the men’s, leading them to frequently misdiagnose women for frivolous reasons. All are important factors and can explain the reason why she was willing to go undercover and report, especially during a time that women were not appreciated especially on the level of well-being mentally. 

Nellie Bly’s approach on the subject of women’s mental health is definitely one that was not yet exercised in the journalistic world, creating an awareness. With Bly’s stunt-reporting, one was exposed to the true horror that does happen inside of the psychiatric asylums. Whether it is her descriptions of the doctors, the inedible food resulting in the starvation of patients, the harsh cold baths, or the isolation within the bedroom, every inappropriate practice was brought out into the open. Also including the women who were wrongfully admitted when in reality they were virtually sane. Overall, her experienced shined light on the inappropriate doings towards the mentally ill, while also opening room for improvement and the ideas of new methods towards studying and treating the mental illness. While these did occur several years after Ten Days in a Mad-House, new methods such as insulin- induced comas, lobotomies, malarial infections, and electroshock therapy, as well as chemical methods were exercised on patients in hopes of improvement in the symptoms (Dual Diagnosis). According to Dual Diagnosis these techniques of treatment did work, however only in the extreme cases leaving those methods to ultimately fail and fall out of practice. Then came the time period of the deinstitutionalization movement, when many of the mentally ill were taken out of asylums and put back into the public arena.According to Dual Diagnosis, this did take some time for the citizens to get used to, resulting in some hindrances such as poor housing. Often the houses that were offered to the former patients did not have better conditions than the asylum (Dual Diagnosis). The inadequate housing could account for many things, the social stigma of mental illness, the still residing of mistreatment towards the mentally ill, and also a lack of support from the general public, whether severe or not. According to Dual Diagnosis, the conditions for the mentally ill within the real world did become more stable and successful. Now having many different social workers and mental health counselors intervene, while allowing them to remain within the general public, along with an improvement on the laws that are now instilled to assist them in their individual lives.

The progression of women’s mental health over the many years can be seen as one that is very positive, especially when looking at the time of the victorian era to present day. The stigma of women’s mental health began in the victorian times, when it was used as a sort of dismal for a desire of independency. If a woman were accused of experiencing anything that seemed to diverge from normal, suffered from depression, anxiety, or was disobedient, she would be pronounced hysterical and sent to a mental institution. Not only did this affect women in the general public, but also in literature restricting women to that same stereotype, furthermore playing into the assumption of insanity, for example in Jane Eyre. The ex-wife Bertha Mason is locked inside of a tower alone, yet the story is told by the man of the household who was responsible for keeping his ex-wife locked in a tower, the findings of Donaldson and the difference between impairment and disabilities can justify the problems with this. Mainly because while impairments and disabilities can occur within people, it is when the person is isolated with nothing but those impairments to focus on that they strengthen into disabilities, which can possibly explain the extreme case of Bertha Mason. Another important aspect to understand is the inspiration behind this brave journalism stunt by Nellie Bly, which was her personal life. Growing up she essentially watched her mother struggle financially after the death of her father and knew from a young age that the domestic role of a woman was not enough to help a family and that it required an active role and voice in society. This served as the main inspiration for the stunt that she pulled at Blackwell’s Island Lunatic Asylum and why she wanted to expose the wrongdoings that were happening to those psychiatric patients. Due to this fact, she did help bring awareness to the hideous treatment of mentally ill women and reveal the injustice for those who were wrongfully diagnosed. This did help contribute to the various movements for better conditions overall and better opportunities at giving the mentally ill a chance of a normal life. Ten days in a Mad-House was definitely used to show the hidden truth behind what it meant to be treated as a mentally ill women and to help show awareness of women’s mental health.
